“We were asked by our original source to verify this with another independent source before we ran with it. We did that, confirming that this is indeed correct (and before anyone asks, we’re not going to name our sources because that’s not how this works). Filming on Episode IX starts next month, so expect to see official confirmation of this exciting casting very soon.”

Williams, 81, played Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Some fans have felt that his absence from the two sequels so far has been unjust, given that the other major stars from the original trilogy all returned.

Lending some credibility to this report is a previous report that Billy Dee Williams seems to have changed his exercise and eating habits as if preparing to appear onscreen.

While Billy Dee Williams hasn’t returned to Star Wars, Lando Calrissian appeared in the latest Star Wars movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story. The film was set prior to the events of A New Hope and featured Donald Glover as a younger version of Lando meeting Han Solo for the first time. Glover met with Williams to discuss the role and Williams offered Glover some advice.

"It was really, really relaxed. He was great. I mean, I had a lot of questions," Glover said of the meeting. "And then he just told me, just be charming. [Laughs] And so, I was like, 'Okay!' I just kind of did that. He said, 'Just be interested in things.' Lando has, I wouldn’t say eccentric, but eclectic tastes. So I tried to work that into the role as much as possible."

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now playing in theaters. The Skywalker Saga continues in Star Wars: Episode IX, opening on December 20, 2019. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is working on a new trilogy of Star Wars movies set apart from the Skywalker Saga, and Game of Thrones creators DB Weiss and David Benioff are also said to be working on their own standalone trilogy of Star Wars movies.